This invention relates to pneumatic paintball markers, which typically are used for target practice and in mock war games and which use a compressed gas, such as air or nitrogen, to propel spherical projectiles called paintballs out of the barrel of the device. Paintballs are typically comprised of a colored liquid enclosed in a fragile gelatin casing. The paintballs are designed to rupture upon impact to mark the target.
Initially, the pneumatic paintball markers were used to mark trees and inaccessible objects for removal or identification. The use of the markers have further developed into the sport known as “Paintball” in which the spherical projectiles containing colored liquid are fired at an opponent and burst upon contact, so that the colored liquid is deposited on the opponent scoring a hit for the combatant. All the participants involved in the sport are required to wear an abundance of protective gear, so that the paintballs can hit no vital part of the player's anatomy.
The sport of paintball has become very popular within a relatively short period of time in the United States and Canada, but there is still a need for a pneumatic paintball marker with improved features including firing capabilities that more accurately controls the burst of the gas that fires a paintball from the barrel of the marker, and that is lighter and easier to handle. Prior art in the field of pneumatic paintball markers has produced cumbersome heavy devices machined in a square box-like configuration that fires slowly and tend to be very inaccurate. They are also prone to breaking the paintballs within the mechanism, a phenomenon called paint chopping.
The prior art paintball markers suffer from a similar problem, in that paintballs may vary in size to a slight degree depending upon the manufacturer, so that with paintballs that are smaller in diameter, they will have a tendency to fall out of the marker when it is pointed in a downward direction.